The Upper Room Daily Reflections
– Friday, 10 January 2014 “Life in Community”
Today’s
Reflection:
A MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON seems an unlikely destination when
seeking a transformative encounter with God. Yet, I recently experienced God as
never before amid high fences, barbed wire, legions of guards, and multiple
checkpoints, while in the company of extraordinary men and women.
I attended the Fund for Theological Education’s Leaders in
Ministry Conference held at the historic Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville,
Tennessee. During the conference I participated as a roundtable leader and
mentor pastor to a fresh crop of FTE Fellows as we faithfully engaged the
conference theme, “Builders of Beloved Community>” A site visit to the
Riverbend Maximum SecurityPrison was part of this phenomenal experience. …
After we successfully navigated the extensive prison
checkpoints, officials escorted our group to the chapel, a small room with
cinder-block walls and aged, wooden benches. When we arrived, the incarcerated
persons warmly greeted us and engaged in mutual dialogue around matters of
faith, rehabilitation, transformation, redemption, forgiveness, and
ecclesiology. Many lessons struck me as significant during our all-too-short
encounter with these amazing men.
The men spoke candidly about the failures of many prison
ministries. They spoke of churches coming to Riverbend seeking only to “get
them saved” but not seeking to be in community with them. They spoke of the
failures of most rehabilitation practices wherein insiders learn how to
regurgitate responses to the questions others pose but never undergo a true
transformation of mind and spirit.
As they spoke, I could not help but think of the present-day
church, which ofttimes places a greater premium on building buildings and
personalities than on building transformative communities. I thought of
churches that commit more to the concern of getting you “saved” than to
entering into the various struggles of life with you, as well as churches more
interested in what you can give rather than teaching you how to live faithfully
for Christ in the world.
I soon recognized that within this transformative community of
open dialogue and mutual sharing, these men had achieved that which has proven
to be a great challenge for many churches today: beloved community … As the
insiders spoke of how they were being made new within this faithful community,
supporting and holding one another accountable each step of the way, I
witnessed hope that we can rise above our worst selves toward the fulfillment
of our better selves as never before! (Michael W. Waters-Freestyle)
From pages 42-43 of Freestyle: Reflections on Faith, Family,
Justice, and Pop Culture by Michael W. Waters. Copyright © 2014 by Michael W.
Waters. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Fresh Air Books.
“http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase
this book.
Today’s Question:
Pray for those who are in prison.
Today’s Scripture:
You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching
peace by Jesus Christ–he is Lord of all. (Acts 10:26, NRSV)
This Week: pray for someone who feels hopeless.
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This week we remember:
Emily Balch (January 9).
Emily Greene Balch (1867-1961) grew up in a prosperous family,
graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1889 and eventually worked as a professor of
economics and sociology at Wellesley College. She worked with Jane Addams at
Hull House in Chicago and cared deeply about people in poverty.
As a Quaker and committed pacifist, Emily was passionate about
peace issues. She worked with Jane Addams organize the Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom and served several terms as its secretary. In 1915
Balch attended the international Congress of Women at Den Hague and was part of
a mediation delegation to Russia and Scandinavia. She proposed an
"International Colonial Administration" similar to what later became
the League of Nations.
Because of her active campaign against U.S. participation in
World War I she lost her Wellesley professorship. She took on the editorship of
The Nation. She also wrote several important books: Refugees as Assets in 1939,
One Europe in 1947, and Toward Human Unity, or Beyond Nationalism (1952).
For her lifetime of peace work Balch received the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1946; she gave the prize money to the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom. Emily Greene Balch died in 1961.
If Emily Balch had taken the Spiritual Types Test, she probably
would have been a Sage. Emily Balch is remembered on January 9.
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Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Isaiah The Servant, a Light to the Nations
42: Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my
soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth
justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in
the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning
wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully
bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has
established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands
wait for his teaching.
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the
heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the
earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those
who walk in it:
6 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by
the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,[a]
a light to the
nations,
7 to open the eyes
that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those
who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no
other,
nor my praise to
idols.
9 See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now
declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.
Footnotes:
a. Isaiah 42:6 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Psalm 29: The Voice of God in a Great Storm
A Psalm of David.
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,[a]
ascribe to the Lord
glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
worship the Lord in
holy splendor.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory
thunders,
the Lord, over mighty
waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord
is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the
cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a
young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the
wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,[b]
and strips the forest
bare;
and in his temple all
say, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits
enthroned as king forever.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his
people with peace!
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 29:1 Heb sons of gods
b. Psalm 29:9 Or causes the deer to calve
Acts 10: Gentiles Hear the Good News
34 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that
God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does
what is right is acceptable to him. 36 You know the message he sent to the
people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 37 That
message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that
John announced: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by
the devil, for God was with him. 39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in
Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40 but
God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41 not to all the
people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank
with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the
people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living
and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes
in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Matthew 3: The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be
baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be
baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be
so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then
he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the
water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said,
“This is my Son, the Beloved,[a] with whom I am well pleased.”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 3:17 Or my beloved Son
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